ESD in LehrLernGarten
Education for sustainable development in the LehrLernGarten
Sustainability education plays an important role in the LehrLernGarten - and has done since our foundation in October 2010!
Why education for sustainable development (ESD) at the Botanic Garden?
The diversity of plants in our garden, the expertise of our staff as multipliers for ESD and, above all, our university educational mission - to anchor ESD in all areas of the education system, see National Action Plan for ESD (BMBF, 2017) - make us a special kind of learning centre for all topics relating to the plant world, its endangerment and efforts to preserve biodiversity.
Botanical gardens are places of biodiversity. What could be more obvious than to go beyond botanical and ecological topics and take an interdisciplinary approach to economic and social aspects and their interrelationships as a central component of ESD? This multi-perspective approach requires knowledge of species and an understanding of ecological relationships. Because, as we all know, you only value and protect what you know.
We are all about plants and the associated sustainability issues.
Plants are the basis of our lives: they are used for food, industrial production, medicine and energy production. Excessive use leads to environmental and resource conflicts, which often result in a loss of biodiversity. In our educational programmes, we take a holistic approach to the relationship between us humans and the basis of our lives.
When we look at native and tropical crops in the LehrLernGarten, we move from botany to cultivation, trade and consumption. The diversity of plant species and the ecology of the tropical rainforest and other local and global ecosystems inspire us to analyse the importance of biodiversity, its conservation and sustainable use by us humans.
A central component of our educational programmes is the direct reference to everyday actions in dealing with natural resources. Based on the learners' individual everyday relationship to plants, we want to use a change of perspective to encourage them to consider their own actions in a global context and make responsible decisions for a more sustainable present and future.
We create situations and spaces in which learners are given the opportunity to question their own values and attitudes and actively participate in design processes.
With our educational programmes, we want to make a contribution to sustainable development, social change and the safeguarding of biodiversity in line with the UN sustainability agenda. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals are therefore at the centre of the educational work in the LehrLernGarten - our current topics include biodiversity, climate change, consumption and nutrition in particular.
As an extracurricular place of learning, we are characterised by authenticity, everyday questions and, above all, original encounters. The focus of our events is on understanding and sustainable learning with all the senses.
With this in mind, the commitment of the LehrLernGarten has been recognised with the Qualitätssiegel Umweltbildung.Bayern.
